Booth's Blog: The UK’s Biggest Horror Comp ‘Shortcuts To Hell’ Is Back By
James Whittington, Thursday 22nd May 2014

I am genuinely excited to announce the news that our Shortcuts To Hell film competition is back and on the manhunt for some seriously hot new horror talent. And this time the competition is a lot more focused and driven on YOUR BIG DEBUT HORROR FILM. For those of you who don’t know we launched the competition last year in association with FrightFFest and Movie Mogul which saw 157 submissions all vying for the amazing prize. I, along with the other judges chose our 6 finalists of whom NFTS student Weronika Tofilska was announced as the overall winner claiming her prize of £6,666 and a development opportunity with Movie Mogul.

The result of this devilish competition has seen the event billed as ‘The UK’s answer to the ABC’s of Death’ with the best 26 short films making it into the anthology horror Shortcuts to Hell: Volume 1 available on iTunes and Blinkbox.

This year it’s a little different and even more exciting. But you gotta get your asses in gear! From now you have about 10 weeks to submit a 3-minute short film version of your full-length horror movie idea and must clearly demonstrate the core idea, premise, story and characters in narrative form. A shortlist of twenty-six finalists will then be invited to an interview where you will have the opportunity to pitch your feature film directly to the jury panel. Including me! And as I have just written, produced and starred in my own short film Selkie I honestly know the hard work it takes.

Three finalists will then go forward to this year’s FrightFest 2014 event at the Vue West End in London, and have their 3-minute films screened before the discerning FrightFest audience. An amazing accolade in itself, your film will be broadcast on Horror Channel throughout August and September, where the overall winner will be chosen by public vote! It’s the X Factor of Horror!

John Shackleton of Movie Mogul said this about what your entry should aim for: “Entries must be narrative driven short films, not trailers, scenes, pitches or promos, the overriding criteria is for the filmmakers to illustrate their exciting feature film concept, within a short form. It’s all about the big idea... do you have a strong hook that can be realized on a very restrictive budget?“

John also informed me that it wasn’t just the winner who gained bigtime last year. He is also working with 4 of last year finalists on projects, script writing and development, so doors will open to anyone who makes it to the final.

This really is a remarkable opportunity to find a creative and highly driven individual and change their lives. Receiving exposure at FrightFest and on TV with Horror Channel, the winner will have the opportunity to direct their debut feature film with Movie Mogul and Wildseed Studios on a guaranteed minimum cash budget of £20,000. This year we hope to launch a career, could it be yours?

Remember – that first passionate albeit low budget film can lead to huge things. Just read my blog last week about the success story of Monsters director Gareth Edwards whose second movie was Godzilla! Look at Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead, Steven Spielberg’s Duel, Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste and ask yourself; “Do I want to be up there amongst horror royalty?”

It does happen, it will happen again – but to who?!

Find out all you need to know in the link below. There ARE less film ‘restrictions’ this year but you still need to prove a budget spend of £666 and the film must be 3 minutes or less. The challenge has begun!

Christmas nightmares come early on Horror Channel, as the UK's primary TV destination for genre fans serves up the UK TV premieres of Jason William Lee's slick and stylish modern take on the zombie virus, The Evil In Us and Frank Khalfoun's boundary-pushing crime slasher P2, starring Wes Bentley.

Works by Stephen King feature heavily this month on Horror Channel, which celebrates the icon's 70th year of one of horror's most prolific and popular authors. There are network premieres for his fearsome feline anthology Cat's Eye, starring James Woods and Drew Barrymore; his darkly weighty cautionary tale Stephen King's Thinner, directed by Tom Holland in his directorial debut; the science-fiction action horror Maximum Overdrive, starring Emilio Estevez; and the 2009 adaptation of his short story Children Of The Corn.

Horror Channel has eleven film premieres in October, including the UK premieres of Southbound, a chiller compendium from the creators of the V/H/S franchise; Mitch Wilson's gruesome...

This year, the all-day shocktoberfest is at the Empire Haymarket on Sat Oct 28, 2017 and embraces one world, one European and five UK premieres, spanning three continents.

From the emotional making of a low-budget slasher to zombie nightmares, Gothic horrors, an outrageously strange mind cult, a sci-fi alien action extravaganza, a comic strip creature feature and the last word in Killer Clowns, this year-s line-up is an eclectic mix of the quirky, unusual and extreme.

Horror Channel has nine prime-time film premieres in September including the UK premiere of Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer's stunning contemporary occult tale of Hollywood ambition and possession, Starry Eyes.

Horror Channel has five prime-time Saturday night film premieres in July including the UK premiere of Brad Parker's chilling disaster horror Chernobyl Diaries. The film is written and produced by Oren Peli, who first terrified audiences with his ground-breaking thriller Paranormal Activity.

The film, which centres on a young vegetarian university student who develops a taste for human flesh, is unlike anything you've seen in recent years. We caught up with Ducournau to discuss what you need to know about the ultra-realistic flick that has everyone talking.

1. It may not be as gory as you think
Its debut at the Toronto Film Festival last year garnered a wealth of media coverage, due to the films' seemingly graphic content resulting in paramedics reportedly being called after cinemagoers had fainted. When Julia heard the news, she was shocked. "I love mixing genres and I love balancing everything that I do, but I do no...

Get ready for hooks, surgical knives and power saws as Horror Channel adds a cutting edge to April's schedule as the UK TV premiere of the Soska Sisters' See No Evil 2 heads up a season of contemporary slasher films.

The season also has the network premieres of Stewart Hendler's sadistically slick Sorority Row with Carrie Fisher, the darkly deranged Girlhouse, and Nelson McCormick's axe-crazy re-imagning of a stalk and slash classic, Prom Night.

See No Evil 2 on the 7th concerns a group of friends who pay a late-night visit to the city morgue to surprise Amy (Danielle Harris) on her birthday.

But the surprise is on them when the one-eyed corpse of brutal psychopath Jacob Goodnight (Glenn 'Kane' Ja...

Another amazing month of premieres awaits you in March as Horror has 9 fear-filled frighteners that will have you laughing and hiding in equal measure.

Dark laughs await on Friday 3rd at 10.55pm with the network premiere of Paul Andrew Williams' blood-drenched hostage thriller The Cottage, starring Andy Serkis, Reece Shearsmith and Jennifer Ellison. Feuding brothers David (Serkis) and Peter (Shearsmith) abduct a young woman (Ellison) and hole up in a remote rural cottage, But their hostage turns the tables and soon it's all for one when they find that the deranged farmer next door is the real threat. Hellraiser's Doug Bradley makes a cameo in this terror treat. There are also network premiere for Irish hit S...